#ICYMI: No Timeframe for Russian Athletics Reinstatement, Rafer Johnson, Gold Medalist and Icon, 86

#ICYMI -- In Case You Missed It ... Sometimes the best stories don't get the attention we think they deserve. Here are our staff picks for articles this week they really want you to know about..

(ATR) World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and Russia taskforce chair Rune Andersen provided an update on suspended Russian track and field athletes, among other anti-doping matters, following two days of virtual Council meetings.

Andersen noted that he and newly elected Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) president Pyotr Ivanov engaged in a video call prior to the start of Tuesday’s World Athletics Council meeting to discuss further course of action for the embattled federation to be reinstated.

"We had an open and constructive discussion and he expressed his determination to do what is necessary to achieve these goals," Andersen said about Ivanov. "We agreed to stay in touch and meet in person as soon as conditions allow. In the meantime, I have asked him to work closely to move the project forward."

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Rafer Johnson, Gold Medalist and Icon, 86

(ATR) Rafer Johnson was a giant in the Olympics. From the 1960 Games in Rome to Atlanta in 1996, Johnson carried the flame, figuratively and literally.

He died of natural causes Dec. 2 at his home in Sherman Oaks, California.

Johnson was born in Texas but in grew up in California where he graduated from the University of California Los Angeles. A talented athlete, he played basketball, football and track and field. He chose athletics as his specialty, the decathlon the event best suited to his multi-talents.

A silver medal in Melbourne 1956 Olympics inspired Johnson to stick with sport and go for the gold in Rome 1960.

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Weightlifting: Pan American Cup a Preview of Cali 2021

(ATR) Virtual weightlifting competitions and activities organized in the Americas in the midst of the pandemic have felt like a breath of fresh air for athletes.

The Online Pan American Cup for under 20s held last weekend could have been a preview to the tournament of the I Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia, in September 2021.

Several medalists in the recent IWF Virtual World Cup sponsored by the Peruvian Federation repeated on the podium in the new competition in which Colombia topped the medal table.

Some 200 competitors from 20 countries registered for the Pan American Federation virtual tournament through the Colombian Federation.

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